USS Enterprise: A proud name with a very long and amazing history

The Navy aircraft carrier USS Enterprise was decommissioned last
week after 55 years of meritorious service under 10 U.S.
presidents. Deployments ranged from the Cuban Missile Crises in
1962 to first-strike operations after 9-11.

The “Big E” was the world’s first nuclear-powered aircraft
carrier and upon commissioning became the world’s longest ship at
1,100 feet. The video shows highlights of the Enterprise and last
week’s observance.

I was not aware until last week’s ceremonies that eight ships
named Enterprise have served the United States since before the
country was founded. I’m providing a summary, below, of the
missions and adventures of all eight ships. For much of the
information, thanks goes to Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class
Eric Lockwood of the Navy’s
History and Heritage Command.

Enterprise 1 // Image:
USS Enterprise CVN 65 website

It’s nice to know that the Enterprise tradition will live on
with a new Enterprise, already being planned. It will be the third
aircraft carrier in the Gerald R. Ford class and the first
supercarrier not named after a person since the carrier America was
commissioned in 1966. The new Enterprise, CVN-80, should be under
construction in Newport News, Va., by the end of next year. It is
scheduled for service beginning in 2027, maintaining no more than
11 active carriers (Congressional
Research Service, PDF 20.7 mb).

The new USS Enterprise is scheduled to replace the USS Nimitz,
currently home-ported in Bremerton.

Enterprise 2 // Image:
USS Enterprise CVN 65 website

The first Enterprise, 1775-1777, was a sailing
ship captured from the British by Capt. Benedict Arnold on May 18,
1775. Until then, the supply ship was known as George. Outfitted
with guns, the Enterprise defended American supply routes in New
England.

The ship was involved in disrupting the British invasion of New
York later that year. One of five ships to survive the two-day
battle, the Enterprise was run aground and burned to prevent
recapture during the evacuation of Ticonderoga on July 7, 1777.

Enterprise 3 // Image:
U.S. Navy

The second Enterprise, 1776-1777, was a
schooner purchased for the Continental Navy in December of 1776.
The ship operated mainly as a transport vessel in Chesapeake Bay.
Limited records suggest the ship was turned over to the Maryland
Council of Safety in February 1777.

The third Enterprise, 1799-1823, was a schooner
used to capture pirate ships during the Barbary Wars. The daring
raid to burn the frigate Philadelphia in Tripoli in 1804 was led by
Lt. Stephen Dacatur Jr., commanding officer of the Enterprise.

Refitted as a brig, the ship served during the War of 1812,
including a skirmish with the British brig Boxer on Sept. 5, 1813,
when both British and American commanding officers were killed.
After chasing smugglers, pirates and slavers from 1815 to 1823, the
Enterprise became stranded and broke up in the West Indies without
loss of any crew members.

Enterprise 4 // Image:
USS Enterprise CVN 65 website

The fourth Enterprise, 1831-1844, was a
schooner built by the New York Navy Yard and protected U.S.
shipping routes throughout the world, including Brazil and the Far
East. In 1839, the ship rounded the Horn, stopped over in Argentina
and returned to the U.S. Following a short deactivation, the
Enterprise sailed back to South America in 1840 before a final
deactivation in 1844, when the ship was sold.

The fifth Enterprise, 1877-1909, was a
bark-rigged sloop-of-war constructed at the Portsmouth Naval Yard
in Maine. Launched in 1874 and commissioned in 1877, the ship
conducted hydrographic surveys along shorelines and rivers
throughout the world, including the Amazon and Madeira rivers in
South America. In 1891 and ’92, the Enterprise served as a training
platform for cadets at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.

Enterprise 5Photo: U.S. Naval History and Heritage
Command

For the next 17 years, the ship was placed on loan to the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts and used as a maritime school. The
Enterprise was returned to the Navy in 1909 and sold five months
later.

The sixth Enterprise, 1916-1919, was a 66-foot
motor patrol craft purchased by the Navy in 1916. The
noncommissioned motorboat conducted patrol duties in Newport, R.I.,
and New Bedford, Mass. In 1919, the boat was transferred to the
Bureau of Fisheries.

The seventh Enterprise, 1938-1947, offered a
vast difference from its previous namesake. The Yorktown-class
aircraft carrier earned 20 battle stars during World War II, more
than any other warship in operation during the war years. Battles
included Midway, Eastern Solomons, Santa Cruz Islands, Guadalcanal,
Leyte Gulf and the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo.

Enterprise 6 // Photo:
USS Enterprise CVN 65 website

During the Battle of Guadalcanal, the carrier took three direct
hits, killing 74 and wounding 95 crew members. In October 1942,
when the aircraft carrier Hornet was abandoned during the Battle of
Santa Cruz, the Enterprise was able to take those orphaned
aircraft.

During much of 1943, the Enterprise was relieved of duty while
undergoing an overhaul at Bremerton’s Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.
In June of 1944, the ship was one of four carriers engaged in the
largest carrier aircraft battles in history, the Battle of the
Philippine Sea.

Enterprise 7 // Photo:
U.S. Navy

Damaged by a bomb in March 1944 and by a kamikaze attack the
following April, both events required repairs. In May, another
kamikaze attack destroyed the forward elevator, killed 14 and
wounded 34 in the ship’s last battle of the war.

After repairs at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, the carrier sailed
to Hawaii, then on to New York via the Panama Canal, where 1,141
sailors were discharged from duty in October 1945.A series of three
voyages to Europe brought home more than 10,000 veterans.
Decommissioning was in February 1947. Private groups were unable to
raise enough money for preservation and the ship was sold for scrap
in July 1958.

Enterprise 8 // Photo:
U.S. Navy

The eighth Enterprise, 1961-2012, was powered
by eight nuclear reactors, two for each of its four propeller
shafts. It was a major engineering accomplishment, and the
designers were not sure that it would work until testing began on
the world’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. Highlights of
the ship’s legendary history are outlined in a timeline published
by the
Virginia Pilot in Norfolk, Va. Enterprise trivia questions are
available in
Maritime Executive magazine.

There is one other proud Enterprise, a fictional spacecraft
called the Starship Enterprise. Of course, I’m talking about the
primary setting for the Star Trek television series and movies. The
Enterprise carried the registry numbler NCC-1701, designating it as
a civilian aircraft, the first to be built in the 17th federation
series.

Three versions of the Starship Enterprise were developed for the
original Star Trek series along with the first through seventh
films. Three ships were featured in the “Next Generation” series,
and several others were shown in alternate timelines.